i'm set to take the megabus to visit my mom & sister & all my lovely friends in pennsylvania and i have such a tendency to overpack that i subscribe to the 'wear as much as possible while traveling' school of thought so i don't have to put as much in my suitcase. i'm actually wearing a second skirt under this dress, but you can't really tell. you can, however, tell that i've overloaded a little bit on the jewelry!

i'm on a bit of a my chemical romance kick lately, thanks to meg from meg's ragged edge (that's a link--go visit her!) who told me about their new songs--i think boy division might be my favourite.

special effects in devilish. i really wish my hair was still this long!

ive been dyeing my hair red (with small intervals of other colours) for more than two years now, and i've learned some things about the process. i get a lot of questions--more frequently in real life than on here--about what i do to it/what kind of dye i use and why so i thought i'd just make a big post rather than pack for winter break.

i've used three colours consistently throughout my hair dyeing career: special effects in nuclear red and devilish, and manic panic in pillarbox red.

pillarbox red was the first colour i ever used in my hair (besides that time in 8th grade when i dyed some purple over my natural brown but you couldn't really tell anything was different) and i started off with it because manic panic is sort of the most well-known brand of fantasy colour hair dye out there. i really liked the result, obviously, because here i am years later still dyeing my hair bright red! there are pros and cons to each of the brands and colours:

manic panic-pillarbox red

pros:

a very true, bright, orange-based red

comes in that tub thing which is really easy to use

fades to an orangey colour that i actually quite like

doesn't leave much of a mess; comes off of most surfaces quite easily (including skin)

cons:

fades quite quickly, after only a few washes

although it is bright, it's not all that...vibrant, if that makes sense

comes in those awful squeeze bottles that are a pain in the ass to use especially when you've got dye all over your hands

after the first wash, looks really more pink than red

stains skin pretty badly, and most surfaces as well

the water will run pink/red when showering for a few weeks which can stain (i've learned not to take a bath with special effects in my hair within at least a few weeks of dyeing it, because it will stain the tub--usually with a shower it's not much of a problem because the water goes down the drain too quickly for it to stain, but in the bath it can be a problem both with the water and if i lean my head against the side of the tub and it's really hard to get off)

special effects-nuclear red

pros:

a very bright red that doesn't look pink at all

lasts much longer than manic panic

cons:

most of the same cons as devilish, except the problem with fading (the squeeze bottle and the staining are problematic as is the shower thing)

a little bit darker than i'd really like--it's not quite bloodred but it leans a little more in that direction than do the other colours

basically, i still have no idea what i actually like the most. it's on my mind because i dyed my hair today--i used a combination of nuclear red and pillarbox red, which isn't something i've tried before.

so far it looks like this, which i actually quite like, but as you can tell my hair is still wet and i can never really gauge how nice a colour looks until it's dry. i used an entire tub of pillarbox red first and then combed in some of the nuclear red over it--i hope it turns out well, because then maybe i can stick to it!

do any of you dye your hair--fun colours or natural ones? what's your favourite brand?

i'm finally done with my semester which means i should hopefully be updating more frequently.

this is what i wore today to go christmas present shopping--tripp pants and a shirt that's actually a slip but i knotted it in the back so it'd just look like a tank top.

this necklace is a gift from one of my good friends.

if you know anything about me in real life, you know that i love the show supernatural. the necklace is in the shape of an anti-possession symbol used on the show. my friend doesn't watch the show but knows my love for it, and apparently spent a long time googling 'supernatural gifts' and 'pentagram thing supernatural' before finding this. i love it!

my hair is pretty faded--i'm going home to pennsylvania on thursday so i'll probably give it a dye job tomorrow.

ah, yes, my bed is a mess. my room is a mess! it's not nearly as bad as it has been known to be, though, so i'm okay with it for now. i plan to clean over break, but a lot of it's just clutter that's not going anywhere unless i throw out half of my junk.

most of the time i have one piece of jewelry that i wear every day. sometimes it's something i genuinely leave on at all times--like the string bracelets i had tied around my wrist over the summer--and sometimes it's just something i'm extra-conscious to put on every morning and i have a little oh, shit moment every time i realize i've forgotten it.

it changes quite often, maybe even monthly--one day i just forget to wear the bracelet or the ring or the necklace, and then i keep forgetting to wear it, and pretty soon i've found something else i want to wear every day, and so i do.

right now it's this ankh ring, which is from egypt. it's very simple and pretty but i love it so much, it has a lot of meaning because not only does it mean life and resemble very much the female symbol, it's also the sigil of the character death from neil gaiman's sandman series, which has been so important to me over the years.

death wears the ankh around her neck, and it's one of the things i've been kicking around as a new tattoo idea. it's been a year since i got my last one and i've been itching for a new one. for now, i'll keep wearing my ring, though.

so my internet is back! i'm a little on edge about it though because time warner says there's still an outage so every time a website is slow to load i'm like 'ohgod it's gone again i'll never have internet again' but then it comes back which is a bit of a relief.

i have a lot to catch up on, internetwise, including commenting on all of your lovely blogses and stealing the ring back from those filthy hobbitses just kidding

but mostly i've been watching supernatural and american horror story and american psycho (i read the book while my internet was down--funny how much reading i got done actually--and really quite disliked it, even though i rather like the movie, so i'm watching the film again to compare)

sorry my makeup is smudgy, i was having an all-out cryfest with my girlfriend over the tragedy that is supernatural and fan-made music videos for harry potter earlier (the foundations of our relationship) so it's a little smudgy

i'm still at my mom's for thanksgiving. i love being home. i'm not sure i ever want to leave!

my sweater is from urban outfitters and my skirt is the UNIF nevermind skirt, which i got on sale at dollskill.com (unfortunately, it appears they are out of stock now).

socks are the crazy long ones from american apparel

no make up on mah face

i've been watching supernatural for about two months now, averaging two and a half episodes a day (seriously...) and i'm almost done with the show. they're still making new episodes but i'm nearly finished with season 7 and then i'll watch what's out of season 8 and then i'll be forced to watch one episode a week like a normal human being. it's been a crazy ride.

hope you all had a great thanksgiving! i ate so much throughout the day that i ended up only having some asparagus and salad for dinner, haha!

see, i've got no internet at my apartment. i've had none for a while now. the only thing time warner will tell me is that it has something to do with the storm, which is ridiculous, because that was weeks ago and i've used the internet at my apartment since it happened.

still, nothing.

i'm considering switching my service. is that even possible? i don't know.

anyway, now i'm in pennsylvania visiting my mom for thanksgiving.

and my cat.

we are watching benny and joon, which is a wonderful film.

i'll try to get some outfit posts up while i'm here, and hopefully by the time i get back into the city my internet will be back up!

death meowtal shirt by unif from urban outfitters (on sale for like $15)

tripp pants which i rarely wear because i just don't wear pants

wow this is my first actual outfit post in like forever and its just something i threw on to go get some groceries, haha. i have a lot of homework to do and it's sunday so that's what i'll be spending my day doing :(

i need to dye my hair again but i'm having sort of a crisis about it. the manic panic that i've been using really doesn't last long at all, but when i use special effects the colour tends to be a lot more pink than i want it to be although it does last longer. so i'm not sure what to do!

i'm working on cleaning my apartment/closet/life and i have like three garbage bags full of clothes that i'm hoping to sell to beacon's closet... once i talk someone into helping me carry three garbage bags full of clothes to beacon's closet :)

THIS VIDEO IS NSFW, IT CONTAINS LADY NIPPLES. please don't watch it if you're in a place where that wouldn't be appropriate!